[Regulation of carbohydrate metabolism in patients with tumors of the sellar-diencephalic area before and after surgery]

Abstract

Clinical and biochemical examination conducted in 40 patients with tumors of the sellar-diencephalic region before and after operation and in 8 healthy individuals revealed in the patients disorders of the function of the hypothalamus and alpha- and beta-cells of the pancreas in the presence of neurological and endocrine disorders. Radioimmunologic determination of insulin and glucagon in the blood disclosed activation of alpha- and beta-cells of the islets of Langerhans in patients with normal blood glucose content before surgery and inadequacy of the reaction of the pancreatic alpha- and beta-cells to the operation stress in patients with diminished or increased concentration of glucose in blood before surgery. Dysfunction of the hypothalamus and endocrine cells of the pancreas in tumors of the sellar-diencephalic region gives grounds for applying postoperative corrective therapy including preparations of insulin and glucagon in patients with progressive signs of a brain lesion.